Nursing Homes With a Track Record—a Bad One

Reader Comments
Back to article

To RETIRED ADMINISTRATOR of OH: How does one find out (easily) if the 'ownership' sells publicly-traded stock?

G. Rogers of CA 1:11AM October 23, 2012

I am a geriatric hospital nurse. I moved my father to a different nursing home. Best thing I have ever done. Only sorry I didn't do it sooner. The last year of his life was a blessing. I always was "attentive" at the old snf. I just got sick of all the lousy care.
b/4 placing your loved one....check it out. Go there unannounced. Always ask hospital nurses you know. We see the shape patients are in when they are admitted to a hospital from a snf. We know which ones are BAD.
I allowed a social worker to make a decision for me the first time. It came down to bed availability. She had a job to do...get this patient out today. Not her fault. She had to find a bed as the doc. had discharged him.
You can say "no".
Do your own research. Go on line to find out ratings, and citations. Be an advocate for your loved one. And, above all, be "watchful". Ask your loved one's hospital nurse..."if you had to put your mom in a nursing home today...where would it be?" She is not allowed to tell you about the bad ones.
And above all, if it is not a good fit for you, be willing to do something different. Yes, moving them is stressful, but bad care is worse.

elisabeth ellgen of MN 11:23AM October 07, 2012

Ex-Nursing Home Administrator (NHA) and State Surveyor "inspector" here. Here's my guidelines for assessing a nursing facility.
Above all - Does the facility smell? If it does, leave. Well-run facilities don't smell. Period. Pervasive odors = systemic facility failure. If odor-free, then..
1. Does the 'ownership' sell publicly-traded stock? If so, move on or out. Their first loyalty is to their shareholders, and their profit is being generated at the expense of their patients. If the 'ownership' is a not-for-profit organization, then good - progess to point 2.
2. How long has the administrator been there? Two years or less, then be on guard. Over five years? Better. Over ten? Rare bird. Generally speaking, the longer the tenure of the administrator the better. It demonstrates competency and consistency, but especially trust by the ownership, the employees and the state survey agency (Dep't of Health).
3. Look for trends in deficiencies rather than isolated events. Nursing homes are minefields, and a singular event isn't necessarily indicative of the quality of the operation.
4. Prior to placing a loved one in a nursing facility ask the administrator for documentation of the facility calendar year staff turnover rate. If they aren't tracking their turnover then it's time to leave. If their annual turnover exceeds 10% for either the total facility or within the nursing department then it's time to talk (with one foot out the door.) If it's less than 10%, that's ideal.
Everything, and I mean -everything- else that happens in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) is a direct relation to the above criteria. I've inspected well over a hundred facilities and managed 8 with 3 different companies over 25 years. I know what of I speak. Good Luck.

Retired Administrator of OH 9:59AM July 31, 2012

In my experance with sending my mom to a rehab nursing home after her stroke even a home with a five star rating can be the worst place to be. The nurses were ill trained and mean to my mom, I ate her leftover chopped chicken one night and spend the night with my head over the toliet. The nurses dropped my mom while I was there. They would jerk her around like she was a sack of potatoes with no concern of her pain. One nurse keep slapping her hands and the lady in the other bed had to tell the nurse to keep her hands off her. She also ended up with a presure sore on her tail bone. when I talked to the director of these problems he said I was making up stories and when it came to the lady witness he said you could not trust those kind of people I do not know if he meant old or a white woman who married a mexican american. He also said the nurses were highly trained and they had no complaints about the nurses he had with him who he said was the head nurse but I found out latter that was all false the lady was not the head nurse and they have had over 25 people transfer out of thier care since the start of the year. But since the hospitals that do this treatment police thier selves by sendind in reports to the state all you have to do is not send in the bad ones. This all is true but I have to say it is my opinion. If you want to know the name of the place I am sorry but I was told I could not say but it is in merced county area of CA.

Robert Brockman of CA 2:00AM May 03, 2012

The article would be much more pertinent if it listed these SFF homes periodically otherwise how would one know. Thanks!

Mary P. of AZ 12:25PM March 19, 2012

I spent a few days in Glade Valley Nursing Home, Walkersville, MD after a total knee replacement. It was by far the worst place I've ever been in or visited. It was dirty (actually had a large centipede run across my floor), food was unbelievably terrible, way understaffed, staff that was there were overworked, no curtains, pictures taken off walls, beds very short and very thin mattress ... I understand since it was bought by a company called Genesis, it has deteriorated considerably. It used to be a lovely facility. I planned on 1-2 weeks for rehab. My doctor got me out in 5 days. It was horrible.

Barbara Ellen Brooke of MD 6:50PM January 13, 2012

How do I go about finding a list of nursing homes in Memphis, TN that are on the SFF list?

Judy Roten of TN 2:08PM January 02, 2012

Oh great I am not repeating all i said. To put it in a nutshell. Keep your loved ones out of Nursing Homes. Think the rich aren't treated better than the poor? Worked in one? Living in a fantasy world? Boss is coming jump through hoops please. Crooked ones in the office stealing your loved ones money,no,think again. Nurses doing meth in bathrooms,no? Think again. Aides leaving Mom or Dad lying in their own filth 5or 5 hours at a time,no? THINK again!

Debbie Jones of TX 7:34PM October 04, 2011

There are a lot more bad nursing homes than are officially recognized. Ask how many patients a nurse handles. If it's over about 23,your loved one is not getting adequate care. Facilities overload nurses often knowing they can always blame the nurse if something is missed. In California, hospital patients are limited to a maximum of 4 patients to 1 nurse. There is NO law or regulation limiting the number of patients assigned to 1 nurse in a Skilled Nursing Facilled.

K Tackett of CA 2:06AM August 13, 2011

There is no way you can effectively find problematic issues in a Home, unless you change your way of inspections and this should be done sooner than later.
These poor innocent elderly people rely on these facilities for practically everything depending on their situation--their at there mercy. And the egregious prices they have to pay for this so called good care. Not! If they were getting good care it would not be as bad--but, this is not the case in so many of these insidious places and it needs to change.
From my experience with my own parent and knowing alot of other elderly people and just people in general--they do NOT want to make waves and make their situation worse. They are afraid to say anything for fear of worse care. This is very sad. My own Father would complain to me all the time, but would say nothing to them. I would listen to other residents - on my own detective mission, they would complain to me. But, when it came to a meeting or a state inspection they would say nothing. This is very typical of what happens. To me, it should just take alittle common sense that this is the way it would be.
There is no way, you can learn or see much of anything in one day. Like, I did, you have to be there everyday off and on for several weeks. Someone needs to go into these facilities undercover and then you will see some of the terrible treatment these poor innocent and helpless people receive. It truly is a countrywide tradegy. No wonder people die in these places so quickly after entering.
But, unfortunately, we are dealing with the government and we all know what that means much of nothing. You need to drop your big heads for awhile and help the people that truly need it and deserve--think of your parents.
Nila Fordyce

nila fordyce of GA 11:46AM July 15, 2011